More than £22million is to be spent on the first offices at a large-scale business park on the outskirts of Stirling.
Kildean Business Park - which is expected to bring in up to £200million investment - is being built by Stirling Development Agency.
In the latest step forward, global finance group Aviva has agreed to spend £22.4 million on office space.
A total of 77,000 sq ft will be complete and ready to let in mid-2022.
Stirling Development Agency is a joint venture between Cromwell Property Group and Stirling Council, established more than 20 years ago.
Kildean Business Park will span around 39 acres (15.78 hectares) and will be made up of a range of buildings, spanning in size from small business units to large headquarters.
The site is close to Junction 10 of the M9. It is also linked with local cycle networks and the completed office will have high-quality facilities such as cycle spaces, lockers and showers within the building.
Renos Booth, head of real estate long income at Aviva Investors, said: “We are pleased to add this office facility to our portfolio of investments and to be making the first significant commitment to the development of Kildean Business Park.
“The development has been developed with sustainability and ESG considerations featuring prominently in the design process, something we are particularly mindful of as we continue to decarbonise our real assets portfolio.
“Not only should this benefit the local community, we believe it should also add a layer of future-proofing and therefore offer enhanced income resilience for our clients over the long-term.”.
Click here for more news and sport from the Stirling area.
Matthew Bird, head of UK at Cromwell Property Group, said: “The office development at Kildean Business Park is a great project, which we believe provides a template for future office development in the UK.
“On completion, it will incorporate a range of measures to ensure the wellbeing of staff in the workplace, as well as scoring highly against widely accepted environmental and sustainability benchmarks.
“We are delighted to have been able to complete this transaction with Aviva Investors, which marks another important milestone in our long-term involvement with Stirling Council and the Stirling Development Agency.”
M&G plc signed their 20-year lease with SDA for the new offices at the start of this year.
Staff currently based at M&G plc’s Craigforth site are due to move to the new building during 2022.
Prudential UK, now part of M&G, have had a base in Stirling since 1997.
